Ruderal Ecology: Grounds for Change Conference

2018 Apr 13 - 7:00pm - 2018 Apr 15 - 2:00pm

This will be so much fun! The venue is the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, New York! I'll be co-leading (with the amazing Azuré Keahi) a biomapping, bio-inventory walk to catalog some of the biodiversity in the postindustrial lands in North Troy.

Ruderal Ecologies is a weekend-long symposium to commence Earth Week. Art, urban ecology, and social justice activities focus on living in urban environments shaped by stress. “Ruderal ecologies” are formed by hardy and adaptive organisms and grassroots activist communities that grow out of the ruins of urban wastelands.

Hosted by The Sanctuary for Independent Media’s NATURE Lab, the symposium involves thinkers and activists from ecology, public health, urban planning, environmental science, environmental justice, permaculture, the arts, and science and technology studies. Together participants look for growth and resilience in polluted but biodiverse environments, asking:

How can we identify underserved marginalized communities to build engaged, diverse networks, on grounds considered “wastelands”?

What forms of life flourish amid the ruins of ruderal ecologies?

What happens when we include “nonhuman” forms of life–including plants and animals–in our thinking about human flourishing?